City to host community meetings on NORDC Neighborhood Participation Plan

September 20, 2012

NEW ORLEANS, LA — Today, Mayor Landrieu announced that the City of New Orleans Mayor’s Office of Neighborhood Engagement will host 7 community meetings to present the Neighborhood Participation Plan (NPP) for the New Orleans Recreation Development Commission (NORDC). These meetings are a chance to gather input from residents on the NPP framework.

After months of community input, research review and discussion, the Mayor’s Neighborhood Engagement Office and NORDC recommend a community advisory structure known as the NORDC NPP. A structural framework was approved by the NORDC Commissioners in July, and now the Mayor’s Neighborhood Engagement Office will secure additional input as they finalize the full plan.

“This process is aimed at producing a more citizen-driven NORDC,” said Mayor Mitch Landrieu. “We want to hear the wants and needs of our residents and we want those who use these facilities and programs to be directly engaged and involved in decision making. These are the type of things that bring us closer to our goal of becoming the best recreation department in the country “

“These NPP community meetings will allow residents to have hands-on involvement in the final design of a plan that will be created and operated based on their input,” said Vic Richard, CEO of NORDC. “We're stronger as a City when we work together.”

The focus of the NPP is to create and maintain a clear advisory role for the community and to provide a structured, accessible platform that encourages stakeholder participation from groups and individuals in NORDC decision-making. During these community meetings, NORDC and the Mayor’s Neighborhood Engagement Office will solicit input, suggestions and concerns from community members.

“Our goal from day one has been to create and institute effective processes that enable all New Orleanians to contribute to the future success of our City and its residents,” said Lucas Diaz, Director of the Mayor’s Neighborhood Engagement Office. “The NPP for NORDC give us a chance to do exactly that relative to recreation.”

The NORDC NPP community meetings will take place on the following dates and locations. All meetings will begin at 5:30PM and end at 7:00PM. For further questions please contact NORDC at: (504)-658-7806.